Probiotic beverage maker Yault USA has plans to build a $305 million production facility in White, Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp announced last week.
The U.S. subsidiary of Japan-based Yakult Honsha Co. is building its second facility in the U.S., which is expected to be larger than the first facility at its Fountain Valley, California headquarters.
“We believe that the new facility will be the main supplier for eastern and central U.S. markets,” Yakult U.S.A. President and CEO Yutaka Misumi said in a statement. “ We are pleased that we will provide more opportunities for our customers in the U.S. with the opening of this new location.”
The facility will create 90 jobs, including managers and assistants, staff positions in human resources, machine operation and maintenance, quality control and warehouse roles, according to the news release.
Construction will predominantly be in 2025 and the facility is anticipated to begin production in 2026, Melinda Lemmon, executive director of the Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development, told Manufacturing Dive in an email.
The new plant will be located in Highland 75 Corporate Industrial Park about 50 miles from Atlanta and 70 miles from Chattanooga, Tennessee. The location is also near Interstates 75 and 575, Highways US 411 and 41, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Garden City Terminal.
“The State of Georgia meets our business needs in terms of the climate for our production, the logistics for the product distribution, and the positive support from the state and the county,” Misumi said in a statement.
The state has helped hundreds of Japanese firms establish operations in Georgia, according to the governor’s office. A longtime business partner of the state, Japan-based facade systems and windows manufacturer subsidiary YKK AP invested $125 million to expand a facility in Macon, Georgia, last year.